Cover; Title Page; Copyright Page; Contents; List of Figures; List of Tables; Foreword; References; Preface: Using this Book; Chapter 1 Science and Nursing --
Why Should I Care?; Science Under Siege; Nursing Epistemology; Science and Technology in Nursing; Science and Medicine in Contemporary Health Care; Nursing Science; Nursing Praxis; Pragmatism and its Value for Nursing; Making Sense of Nursing Theory; Summary; Key Points for Further Discussion; References; Chapter 2 The Rise of Empiricism; The Beginnings of Science; Science in the Medieval World; The Renaissance and Scientific Revolution The Age of EnlightenmentMathematical Probability; Rationalism; A Priori and a Posteriori Knowledge; The Rise of Empiricism; The Hypothetico-deductive Method; Inductive Reasoning; The Problem of Induction; Deductive Reasoning; Abductive Reasoning; Summary; Key Points for Further Discussion; References; Chapter 3 Modern Science and Nursing; Romanticism; Positivism; Logical Positivism; Pragmatism; Classical Pragmatism; Neo-pragmatism; Post-positivism and Karl Popper's Critical Rationalism; Falsifiability; Popper's Critical Rationalism; Popper's Scientific Legacy Thomas Kuhn: Scientific Evolution and RevolutionsThe Revolution in Physics and Its Impact on Scientific Philosophy; Summary; Key Points for Further Discussion; References; Chapter 4 Scientific Determinism, Causality and Care; Scientific Determinism and Causality; The Deductive-Nomological Model; The Deductive Statistical Model; The Inductive Statistical Model (I-S Model); The Statistical Relevance (S-R) Model; The Causal Mechanics (C-M) Model; The Pragmatic Model; Unification; Summary; Key Points for Further Discussion; References Chapter 5 Social Science: Scientific Realism, Alternative Frameworks and the Rise of Postmodern ThoughtMetaphysics and Science; Scientific Realism; Arguments Supporting Scientific Realism; Criticism of Scientific Realism; Non-Realist Empirical Frameworks; Anti-Realism (Nominalism); Arguments for Anti-Realism; Criticism of Anti-Realism; The Mind-Body Problem Revisited; Reductionism and Holism; Reductionism; Holism; Interpretivist and Constructivist Rationales; Intentionality; Phenomenology; Hermeneutics; Critical Theory; Feminist Inquiry; Social Constructionism and Constructivism PostmodernismEpistemological Relativism; The Development of Postmodern Thought; Deconstruction; Neo-Pragmatism; Ways of Knowing; Trans-cultural Nursing; Reaction to Postmodernism; Post-Structuralism; Post-postmodernism; Caring and the Divine; Unitary Human Beings; Health as Human Consciousness; Human Becoming; Caring Caritas; Integral Nursing; The Appeal to Divinity; Map of the Problematique: The Limits of Postmodern Thought; Description and Explanation vs Prediction; Research Culture and Ethics in the Social Sciences; Summary; Key Points for Further Discussion; References

This book presents a novel approach to understanding the science and art of nursing that underpins evidence-based practice. It explores the foundational philosophical principles of nursing in an accessible manner, to enable readers to grasp the key arguments behind empirical nursing and why it is important for nurses to understand it.